A Taiwanese man who failed to show up for a hotel reservation in Japan has apologized and offered compensation, the hotel said yesterday.
The man, surnamed Lee (李), reserved a room at the Yufuin Tsubaki hot-spring hotel in Oita for the Lunar New Year holiday, but failed to show up on Friday.
Lee yesterday called the hotel to apologize and offered to compensate the losses caused by his failure to show up, a hotel employee surnamed Yashiro said.
Lee’s wife also called on Sunday to apologize, she said.
Lee had booked a two-night stay with upscale seafood and beef meals, the hotel said.
His failure to show up resulted in losses of about ￥240,000 (US$1,846) for the hotel, as the food that was prepared in advance had to be thrown away, it said.
Lee had made the reservation through the Japanese hotel booking platform Jalan.net, but said he did not receive any confirmation from the system, so he thought his request did not go through, which is why did not show up at the hotel.
However, Yashiro said a reservation is successful as long as the platform displays a reservation code following an order.
Yashiro said it was the first time that a guest did not show up for a reservation at the hotel.
She said her colleagues at first felt upset and biased against Taiwanese travelers, but they no longer feel that way following Lee’s apology.
The hotel hopes that Lee would compensate its losses as promised after the Lunar New Year holiday, she added.
TAIWANESE WELCOME
Yashiro thanked Taiwanese news media, whose reporting of the incident attracted attention.
She said Taiwanese tourists are still welcome at the hotel.
Lee was not available for comment on the incident.
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